Ceglia's latest lawyer bungled child porn lawsuit

Facebook botherer scrapes bottom of legal barrel

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Paul Ceglia - the alleged half-owner of Facebook - has enlisted yet another lawyer in his increasingly desperate case brought against Mark Zuckerberg.

The latest attorney to represent Ceglia has reportedly been ordered, in a separate suit, to cough up $300,000 after he "morphed" stock images of minors and used them to defend individuals charged with possessing child porn.

“The court concludes that a constitutionally effective defence to a child pornography charge does not include the right to victimise additional minors by creating new child pornography in the course of preparing and presenting a defence,” said US District Judge Dan Polster in an opinion dated 20 October, according to Bloomberg.

The judge dismissed lawyer Dean Boland's claim that such usage of the images was constitutionally protected. He plans to appeal the judgment.

According to Boland's website, he "is a former computer crime prosecutor who worked on cases of nationwide notoriety broadcast on Court TV while a prosecutor. He now represents criminal and civil clients facing technology issues in cases in federal and state courts throughout the entire country".

Boland is Ceglia's fourth lead counsel since Ceglia filed his original lawsuit on 2010.

Earlier this month the firewood salesman, who lives in Ireland, lost lawyer Jeffery Lake after he instructed him "not to comply" with a court order issued by a judge in August.

Lake had been told to hand over details of email accounts and passwords relating to a revised complaint Ceglia issued against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in April this year. He refused and dumped the case.

Ceglia has claimed to have email evidence that showed he was entitled to ownership of half of Facebook.

That's an allegation repeatedly rejected by the social networking supremo, who has labelled Ceglia a "fraudster". ®